01.10.14: Fennesz "Vinyl" to be released on vinyl on 20.10

"Venice", the fourth studio album by Christain Fennesz, finds electronic music at a crossroads between its early status as digital subculture, and the feeling that there has to be something more, an emotional quality that rises above noise and moves towards melody and rapture.

The Future Will Be Different and Tree complete the Venice sessions in one release… "Venice" was recorded on location in the summer of 2003 and subsequently assembled and mixed at Amann Studios, Vienna in January/February 2004.

B
City of Light
Onsra
Circassian (guitar: Burkhard Stangl)
Onsay
The Other Face

C
Transit (vocals: David Sylvian)
The Point of It All

D
Laguna
Asusu
The Stone of Impermanence
Tree

It was voted No. 3 in The Top 50, The Wire, December 2004, was album of the week at BBCi on its release and remains Christian Fennesz’s best-selling record to date. prefix (USA) noted: "Although Fennesz's breakout record Endless Summer was followed by a live release and a collaboration with Jim O'Rourke and Peter Rehberg as Fenn O'Berg, Venice is the true heir to that album's ascendant pop. Venice is not as unabashedly poppy as its predecessor (the lack of Beach Boys references can attest to that), but still mines much the same vein. It was marked by critics at the time as a move away from the relatively robotic music spawned by the IDM craze of the late nineties. Instead, its melodic, emotive tracks foresaw an electronic music that could be purely human.”

Pitchfork Media (USA), in a lengthy review, also noted: "Venice's quality extends beyond its sound. Touch proprietor Jon Wozencroft-- through his breathtaking design and photography - continues to fight the good fight against records-as-pure-data by making the CD a value-added prospect.” and The Declaration Online (Web): "Two blue empty row boats left listless on rippling water. Red orange green riverbed foliage reflected in the water's gauzy oil slick surface. An airport enveloped in dull gray stratus and snow. Upon seeing the photography and packaging accompanying Christian Fennesz's latest recording, Venice, it is clear that the record label Touch remains intent on not simply putting out records but creating audiovisual imprints dedicated to inextricably tying sound and vision."

Artwork and photography by Jon Wozencroft
Cut by Jason at Transition
Featuring David Sylvian and Burkhard Stangl
Special 10th anniversary edition

A previously unreleased track by Fennesz, "TOM", is presented as the lead track on "Modeselektion Vol. 03", the latest in Modeselektor’s mix series. Available on 2xLP, 2xCD and download via Monkeytown Records.

31.03.14: Listen to "Static Kings" from "Bécs" on pitchfork.com

"…"Static Kings" is the first sliver of music we get to hear from the new one, and its silvery guitars and thrums of (yes) static surrounding them certainly call back to Endless Summer's obfuscated majesty."

28.02.14: Fennesz "Bécs" to be released on 28.04

The last time Fennesz released an album on Austrian label Mego it was 2001 and the name of that release was 'Endless Summer'. Now, in 2014 Editions Mego is extremely proud to release the conceptual follow up that landmark of abstract pop. Bécs (pronounced 'baeetch') is Hungarian for Vienna and is the first full length Fennesz solo release since 2008's 'Black Sea'. Pre-order at editionsmego.com.

Eschewing the more drone orientated works of 'Black Sea', 'Bécs' returns to the more florid pop mechanisms as deployed on Endless Summer. 'Static Kings' features the extra leverage of Werner Dafeldecker and Martin Brandlmayer who deploy a range of atmospheric abstract effects to shape a bewitching sound world. The 10 minute centrepiece 'Liminality' (featuring Tony Buck on drums) is classic Fennesz: epic, evocative, beautiful, impossible. 'Pallas Athene' creates a sanctuary of hovering beauty which leads into the title track. Emotional and assured, the track 'Bécs' is an astonishing contribution to contemporary pop. 'Sav' co-written by Cédric Stevens (aka Acid Kirk) inhabits a less structural terrain as one enters a forest of small sounds and oblique atmospheres, where the closing 'Paroles', a gentle melody unravels amongst swirls of electronics and fried disruption. Bécs is not just an album or a series of songs, it's a world to inhabit, a landscape ripe with sounds, songs and that esteemed Fennesz signature.

Recorded & mixed at Amann Studios, Vienna, 2013/14
Tony Buck’s drums recorded by Martin Siewert at Garnison7, Vienna, July 2013
Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, February 2014

Cover design by Tina Frank

12.11.13: Fennesz remixes Jensen Sportag – Free Download

In honour of Jensen Sportag's album for Cascine, Stealth of Days, Fennesz has lent his touch to a remix of the opening track, ‘Rain Code’.

Cascine say: ‘Fennesz transforms the track into a delicate mist awash with secrets and mysteries, illuminating the original with fragility and reverb. Crystalline soundbeams give way to sunbursts of off-kilter melody, all the while keeping the prettiness of Rain Code intact.’

09.11.13: Autre Ne Veut x Fennesz

Fennesz has collaborated with American singer Autre Ne Veut on "Alive", a track to be released on a limited 10" as part of Mexican Summer’s forthcoming anniversary book "Mexican Summer: Five Years".

FACT Magazine writes: "Christian Fennesz was at the top of a list of dream collaborators that Ashin handed to the Mexican Summer label, so when they managed to wangle two days of studio time in Austria, it was a dream come true. The resulting track ‘Alive’ is as electric as you’d hope, with Fennesz’s whirlpool noise wrapping itself around Ashin’s wavering vocals and delicate pop sensibilities."

05.07.13: The Kilowatt Hour announce Italian dates

The Kilowatt Hour, a new collaborative trio featuring Stephan Mathieu, David Sylvian and Christian Fennesz, has just announced a set of live dates in Europe this fall. The instrumental trio will develop material this summer to debut at the Punkt Festival in Kristiansand, Norway on September 7, followed by a series of dates in Italy. Visit the-kilowatt-hour.com for ticket links and further info.

04.06.13: The Kilowatt Hour – Mathieu, Sylvian, Fennesz

21.02.13: "17.02.12" - a limited edition box set

FACT Magazine writes:

"Austrian sound artist Fennesz will release a live box-set this month.

The laptop ‘n’ guitar mastermind behind albums like Endless Summer, Christian Fennesz hasn’t released a full solo album since 2008′s Black Sea, instead focussing on soundtracking and collaborative projects. Last year, he released his soundtrack to Aun, an Austrian film that tackles death, alternative energy sources, maths, the supernatural and more, and this new release documents a live performance of music from Aun‘s soundtrack that took place in Florence, February 2012 [via RBMA].

This box-set comprises both vinyl LP and double-CD recordings of the performance, a 12-page photo book, and a DVD of Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (Symphony of a Great City), a German silent film made by Walter Ruttmann in 1927. It comes limited to 500 copies, and will set you back £80 to £110, depending on where you buy."

03.12.12: Fennesz Plays Atmospheres 4 | Touch.30 Live at Beaconsfield

A two-day festival celebrating 30 years of Touch, with performances, installations and displays, and a full programme of workshops and masterclasses in design and music, recording, mastering and the digital realm. There are a limited number of these discounted "early bird" festival passes, so hurry! The pass entitles you to access all events at this festival.